Student work – English Enrichment Excellence

The future of conservation

Is conservation necessary? For birds whose notable qualities are their unique colouration and complex songs, why is conservation anything more than our selfish need for control? Bird species that are only an appendage to the food chain should not be lamented if their disappearance has no practical consequences, right?

To put it simply, our understanding of the world around us is still callow. It will take years, decades, even centuries of developing technology and corrections before we are able to paint a clearer picture of our world, on a canvas that currently appears to be infinite. Extinction is the natural progression of nature. It can play out naturally through the weighing scale of an unbiased biosphere, or unfairly, by outside contrived influences. Suspiciously, we have seen a trend of species disappearances between the 20th to early 21st century, many linked to the carelessness and naïvete of humans. Even worse, this lack of awareness of the iron fist we unwittingly wield means we are leaving a world behind us worse off than before. As each generation peaks and falls, the effect we see on wildlife will trickle up, to our own level.

What does this have to do with birds?

What I personally find fascinating is our obsession with conservation, alongside our negligence of, or impotence to deal with, the root of the problem. I believe the sheer scale of increasing extinctions we see is a warning for us, not just an unfortunate occurrence. As we continue to meddle with natural ecosystems without further thought, the disappearance of wildlife will become a routine symptom of a much larger issue. No matter how useless a species may appear from a selfish point of view, the invisible work at play within ecosystems must be acknowledged and honoured if we wish for life to be sustained into the 22nd century.

If we want to see less damage and suffering imposed on the wildlife around us, we must understand the crux of the issue, rather than following it with a temporary band aid.

Isabella Evangelista (Year 11)